Oswego’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Education worked together on the “Full STEM” grant and will collaborate to launch the science foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program at Oswego this spring.

Graduate students in master’s teaching programs at SUNY Oswego would receive scholarships worth $16,000 a year. Undergraduate sophomores and juniors recruited for the program would receive $12,000 to complete their STEM degrees and any foundational coursework they need to prepare for Oswego’s graduate programs in STEM education.

The program’s goal is to produce about 30 new STEM graduates with an interest in teaching, and 30 graduate-level STEM teachers with state certification in adolescence education.

Each undergraduate must commit two years of post-graduate teaching in a high-needs school district for each year of scholarship assistance; the commitment is four years for STEM professionals recruited for an Oswego master’s program in adolescence education.

The program will emphasize retention, including support for new teachers while in the field. Organizers are working on rules for repayment of scholarships as financial aid if students renege on the commitment to teach in high-needs schools.

“You have to have the passion for both the science and education … and truly believe in the social justice that we have a responsibility to education,” Nichole Karcich Thibado ’03, coordinator of the program says.

Celestial in its reach, the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation is also practical to the core — a visionary platform for launching careers in the physical sciences while tackling urgent issues of environmental sustainability.

From its 35-seat planetarium to its 240 energy-efficient geothermal wells, the complex showcases Oswego’s ever-growing commitment to scholarship and research in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The $118 million Shineman Center is a visionary configuration of laboratories, observatories, and stimulating learning and gathering spaces. Both high-tech and humanistic, it’s the crown jewel of Oswego’s recent 10-year capital expansion.

EDWARD AUSTIN SHELDON LEGACY

Presentation by Casey Raymond and Allen Bradberry

Exactly 100 years ago, Oswego unveiled its first future-focused building, the beautiful, stately Sheldon Hall, and celebrated its then-progressive approach to teacher training. In architecture and infrastructure, Sheldon Hall and the Shineman Center have little in common. In spirit, they are one — legacies of Edward
Austin Sheldon, who energized American education by replacing memorization with dynamic, hands-on, student-centered learning.

President Deborah F. Stanley, acknowledging the commonalities, said, “Today, Dr. Sheldon would agree that the dedication of the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation has helped meet his stated goal to ‘raise Oswego to its highest degree of usefulness’ in the pursuit of academic excellence as we prepare the next generation of exceptionally trained and globally engaged scientists and engineers in the STEM fields and beyond.”

A testament to Sheldon’s student-minded spirit is the building’s $5 million naming gift — the largest cash gift in college history — from two dedicated former faculty members, Dr. Barbara Palmer Shineman ’65 M ’71 and Dr. Richard S. Shineman, who — before his death in 2010 — created a bequest that established the foundation that bears his name.

“Dick and Barbara have been longtime, generous supporters of our college,” President Stanley said. “They epitomize the loyalty and devotion of the entire SUNY Oswego community. Their gift, moreover, reaches a new dimension and carries Oswego to new heights.”

CHEMIST, PHILANTHROPIST, CATALYST

At the center’s dedication, professor emeritus Richard Shineman was center stage. His wife, professor emerita of education Dr. Barbara Shineman, said her unpretentious husband, founding chair of the college’s department of chemistry, “would be more than a little embarrassed that we are calling attention to him today. But,” she continued, “while he had no self pride, he was proud of Oswego.

“This is a magnificent structure,” said Dr. Shineman, her eyes sweeping the atrium’s soaring glass walls and graceful wooden curves.

A signature feature of the Shineman Center is its open and collaborative ambience, captured in the stunning, ground-floor atrium known as “the nucleus.” The Fusion Café, with electrical outlets at workstations along the lunch counter and walls, invites students and faculty to relax, exchange ideas and let their imaginations soar.

“Buildings are ephemeral,” Dr. Shineman said. “What we have come to dedicate is more than an artfully constructed complex. It is a philosophy of education.

“Richard didn’t fit the narrow stereotype of a scientist sequestered in his lab. He lived a well-rounded, adventuresome life.”

SHOWCASE FOR SCIENCE

The lake-view complex “puts science on display,” according to chemistry professor Casey Raymond, who helped shepherd the project to realization.

Every element reflects Sheldon’s experiential, interactive approach: the glass-walled observation room, where meteorology students track lake-effect bands moving across Lake Ontario; the planetarium, offering animated journeys through the universe, including the Milky Way galaxy, and the $320,000 Zeiss Confocal Microscope, rarely found in academic settings. Students are even encouraged to write on walls to temporarily post their ideas, questions and events on transparent acrylic panels lining the halls.

STEM SUPPORT

The Shineman Center showcases Oswego’s strong commitment to providing a workforce proficient in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), disciplines in which researchers must join forces in search of solutions to complex current and future problems.

“Historically, the sciences have had separate labs and separate wings,” said Dr. Raymond. “The Shineman Center is the first comprehensive, truly integrated science facility in SUNY.”

STUDENT-CENTERED

At the Shineman Center community open house in September, dozens of students displayed their research posters in the nucleus of the new building. A palpable sense of ownership prevailed as students in white lab coats welcomed visitors, served refreshments and led tours.

“The students are extremely grateful,” Anthony Smith ’14, physics major and president of the Oswego Student Association, said. “This is the most impressive building on campus.”

Oluwakemi Mogaji ’14, a biology major whose Oswego research into diabetes has taken her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and will help prepare her for medical school, said, “I feel privileged to learn in a building like Shineman.”

EARTH-FRIENDLY

The Shineman Center is designed to make sustainability a priority and to qualify for gold LEED Certification (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council. Recyclable materials, locally sourced, were used in construction; rooftop solar panels and geothermal wells mean the building will be 21 percent more efficient than a standard science building; it is estimated to use 40 percent of the energy compared to the former buildings (64 percent less natural gas and 23 percent less electricity). It’s designed to generate 38 percent less wastewater than the former buildings.

“Each of the geothermal wells is 499 feet deep. If you drilled any deeper you’d need a mining permit,” explained earth science major Julie Meleski ’13. “In the classroom, it’s hard to get your head around geothermal dynamics. It’s much easier to understand in an actual setting.”

PERFECT ROLE MODEL

A highlight of the dedication ceremony was the conferring of a State University of New York honorary doctor of science degree upon Dr. Anthony Cortese, an internationally renowned environmental advocate.

A senior fellow at the Boston advocacy agency Second Nature, Dr. Cortese spearheaded the 2007 American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, a national campaign to enlist higher education administrators in reducing carbon footprints. President Stanley is a charter member — Oswego was one of the first five of 677 colleges to commit.

TEAM EFFORT

College personnel, including approximately 170 faculty members, spent more than a decade envisioning, designing, building and equipping the interdisciplinary science building.

Dr. Kenneth Hyde, chemistry professor emeritus, said he spoke at the groundbreaking of the Shineman Center, then he intentionally stayed away until the dedication. “The building is everything we dreamed and more,” he said, as he provided historical context. “The Science Planning Committee goes back before 2000. It was 2003 when Sara Varhus, then dean of the Oswego College of Arts and Sciences, invited me to work half time as her liaison to the committee.”

He credits Varhus with starting the Sciences Today lecture series that was a catalyst to increased collaboration among people from the various disciplines. “We came out of our individual silos and began the interaction that is now promoted through the design of the Shineman Center.”

Hyde recalls taking science faculty members to visit new complexes on other campuses and to attend conferences of Project Kaleidoscope, where they could grasp possibilities for integrating the STEM disciplines in modern facilities. Among those who caught the vision are Dr. Jeffrey Schneider, a later chair of the science planning committee, and Casey Raymond, the current chair, who saw the project to completion.

Visibility: An observation room has been designed to allow people to view the ever-changing weather conditions outside the building. Labs have large windows so students can see advanced technologies and instrumentation, such as the human-sized, programmable robot in the engineering labs.

Distinguished Service Professor of earth science Alfred Stamm recalled his department’s initial request: a penthouse observatory, with 360-degree views for meteorlogical forecasting. “At the time, we were tracking lake-effect bands through windows in the geology lab or by running up to the roof,” he said.

Eventually, wants and wishes were narrowed down to needs. The penthouse proposal became a large, glass-walled, corner observation room with prime lake views, plus an outdoor observation deck.

A 16-inch telescope, the largest in Oswego’s history, is housed in the observatory at Rice Creek Field Station. Associate professor of astronomy Scott Roby, says excitement over the telescope and planetarium tripled the number of students interested in the college’s astronomy club.

STAMP OF APPROVAL

When college visionaries took the plan for a science building to Albany, SUNY administrators were receptive. “This college had already demonstrated, through projects such as the business school, Campus Center and Sheldon Hall renovations, that it used funding effectively,” said Dr. Raymond.

In 2008, with the promise of $118 million in capital funding bonded through the State University Construction Fund, Oswego moved forward with design and three years of construction. The project included the integration and renovation of Piez Hall, as well as extensive focus on instrumentation.

“The final product is testament to planning, patience and open lines of communication,” said Raymond. “We got a lot of work done; what we ended up with is pretty outstanding.”

GRADUATE AND ADVOCATE

A big assist, as Oswego made its case for capital funding from SUNY, was the support of former New York State Senator James Wright ’71. At the dedication, President Deborah Stanley recognized his contributions by conferring upon him the inaugural Trident Award, with high praise for Wright’s outstanding — and longstanding — public service and advocacy for the college.

Members of the platform party at the dedication of the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation are, from left: Marshall A. Lichtman, SUNY Board of Trustees; Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, recipient of the Honorary Doctor of Science degree; Dr. Barbara P. Shineman, ’65 M ’71, president of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation; the Honorable James W. Wright ’71, recipient of the inaugural Trident Award, and Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.

President Stanley explained the new award is a replica of the three-pronged copper finial that topped Sheldon Hall for a century. “The trident is an apt symbol of our college’s strength: Its three prongs represent our storied past, our vibrant present and our promising future; its skyward reach reflects our valiant, ever-striving spirit.”

Expressing appreciation for the award, Wright was quick to turn the spotlight back to the Shinemans. “As a couple,” he said, “the Shinemans represent the spirit of Oswego.”

SENSE OF CELEBRATION

At the Oct. 4 dedication, a jubilant President Stanley told 350 guests, “This is a landmark event in the history of our college. It’s a monument to the power of science and the power of education.”

Snygg Hall is scheduled for demolition, and a memory garden is planned to preserve the names of renowned psychologist and former Oswego professor Donald Snygg, Ph.D., for whom the building was named, and Richard K. Piez, Ph.D., who taught at Oswego from 1893 to 1937, and for whom Piez Hall was named.

Hoangny Nguyen ’14, biochemistry major, who often spends 12 to 15 hours a day in the lab, welcomes the move to Shineman. He can see friends in the Fusion Café, and he’s just a few steps from his resident hall room in Sheldon Hall. Nguyen has a connection to the building’s benefactor: His aunt and uncle were chemistry majors when Dr. Richard Shineman was department chair.

EDUCATION IN ACTION

The summer move into the Shineman Center, Raymond said, with 10 students and 170 faculty members, was “well coordinated but pressured.” He added, “We had contractors going out the back door, and students coming in the front door. We estimated students moved about a million pounds.”

Meleski, one of the students, said she will long remember the heat, heavy loads and tension of moving expensive equipment, but she enjoyed the logistics. “I learned I might be interested in a master’s degree in professional science management,” she said.

UNENDING POSSIBILITIES

With the opening of the 2013–14 academic year, students and faculty members began classes and research in the Shineman Center, launching its infinite trajectory toward the future. The Oct. 4 dedication was a celebration of generous benefactors and all who pursued the stellar vision. It also served as a symbolic compact that the visionary thrust continues to propel Oswego forward through ongoing scientific conquests and unlimited discoveries.

“Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” —HARRIET TUBMAN

Sometimes, we make choices that lead us to the best possible circumstance among the best possible people we could hope for in our lives. When that happens, we thank our lucky stars, and we align ourselves with those people, we learn from them, we hold them in our hearts and we emulate them. We call them mentors; we call them friends.

“They are the kind of people you want to keep in your life,” says Thomas Dana ’84 M ’87, Ph.D., of the motivating professors he and his wife, Nancy Fichtman Dana ’86 M ’88, Ph.D., had at Oswego. “You want to honor them by giving to your own students and colleagues the same effective support they gave to you.”

The Danas say they were part of a constellation of Oswego students who were nurtured in the 1980s by “wonderful faculty members.” Former dean Thomas Gooding, Ph.D., and his wife, Shirley, and the late Nathan Swift, Ph.D., and his wife, Patricia, were among them. And, in counting the mentors who became lifelong friends and inspirations, the Danas especially treasure their association with Dr. Barbara Palmer Shineman ’65 M ’71, and her late husband Richard S. Shineman, Ph.D., a faculty couple whose lives revolved around the college, its programs and its students. Now, as leaders in higher education themselves, Nancy and Tom say they try to incorporate the Shinemans’ practices into their own teaching and administration.

Tom, a meteorology and astronomy major at Oswego, is now a professor and associate dean of academic affairs at the University of Florida College of Education. He recalls Richard Shineman as a professor who connected with each student on an individual level and understood what each student needed.

“Deep down, although he was a marvelous scientist, Dick Shineman was an educator,” Tom says. “He was passionate about having all students acquire science literacy. He found ways to make chemistry accessible to all.”

Tom refused a scholarship to a prestigious private college in favor of choosing Oswego because he had worked in his high school planetarium and was impressed to find a college that had one as well. Nancy followed in the footsteps of her brother, Bruce Fichtman ’80, who had come to Oswego to study industrial arts.

“I was the little sister, coming along for family visits and seeing the campus as a place where I could feel comfortable,” Nancy says. “I always knew I wanted to teach.”

Maybe it was cosmic forces that brought Nancy and Tom together as co-resident assistants on the first floor of Oneida Hall. Maybe it was simply the end result of a series of wise choices.

“We realized we worked together really well,” Nancy says.

“And the residents seemed to enjoy seeing our relationship develop,” Tom adds. The working relationship turned personal, and it led to marriage, career and family.

The Danas are established now in Gainsville, successful in their professions in higher education at the University of Florida and enjoying life with their son, Greg, a sophomore at UF, and daughter, Kirsten, a high school senior.

They resist occasional urges to move north again, but they say they are constantly aware of the excellent foundation they received at Oswego, and they often recall their student days, when professors provided the resources and advantages they needed to excel.

“We valued that sense of collegiality and the fact that we were inspired to seek our best selves,” Nancy says. “Barbara Shineman was a huge influence in my life. She constantly encouraged me. To hear, from an educator you admire on every level, the words, ‘You can do this,’ meant everything.”

Nancy became a colleague of her mentor when she joined Barbara Shineman in directing the Sheldon Institute, an Oswego summer program of enrichment, designed originally for gifted and talented pupils.

As a professor in UF’s School of Teaching and Learning, with credits for extensive research and publication in areas of new and continuing teacher development, Nancy carries on the best practices and techniques she acquired from Barbara.

“I constantly want to create the same qualities of mentorship and the same environment of positive reinforcement that Dr. Shineman gave to me,” she says.

As for Barbara Shineman, she says the connections she and Richard made with “brilliant young people like Nancy and Tom” enriched their lives.

“The college was the nucleus around which we planned our days. We were both passionate about higher education, specifically about Oswego where we felt blessed to be teaching and learning,”
she says.

From the archives: Richard S. Shineman at the start of his career. A dedicated teacher and generous philanthropist, he established the trust before his death that, along with a personal gift from his wife, Barbara Palmer Shineman ’65 M ’71, provided funding to name the Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation.

“Dick and I both took such delight in seeing students blossom and fulfill all their potential. And, of course, Dick — given his philanthropic principles — demonstrated his allegiance by making generous gifts for scholarships and programs and by establishing the foundation that bears his name.”

A teacher at the Oswego Campus School and later a member of the faculty in the School of Education until her 1989 retirement, Barbara has had a lasting influence that reaches far beyond the immediate interaction in the classroom. To Nancy, she was not only a professor, but also a light, a source of illumination.

“Barbara guided me and nurtured me — in the classroom, as my student teaching supervisor and again, later, when she was director of the Sheldon Institute,” Nancy says. “It was a tremendous opportunity to work with her in those situations, to learn from her and to receive her wise counsel.”

The Danas credit the Shinemans with persuading them to pursue doctoral degrees. “It was quite a leap,” Nancy says. “We were quite comfortable. We owned a home and were becoming settled in Central New York. But, with the affirmation we received from Dick and Barbara — and largely, it was Barbara’s influence — we sold everything and went back to being students.”

Tom had a connection to Florida State through the work he had done on the NSF grant with professors Swift and Gooding, so they applied and were accepted there. The Danas say they have been fortunate, after completing their degrees, to receive academic appointments at universities where they can both pursue their individual passions for education. First at Pennsylvania State University, now at UF, they have helped create and sustain an academic environment like that they saw modeled at Oswego, where they say they were part of “a learning community.”

Coming together for the Oct. 4, 2013, dedication of the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation was, for Tom and Nancy Dana and Barbara Shineman, like gathering as a family once more.

“They have become as close as any beloved relatives,” Barbara says. “Dick and I watched their careers develop, and before he died, we all enjoyed vacations and visits together. He would have been delighted that they were here for the dedication.”

Barbara says the Danas are among those alumni who are the pride of Oswego. “They are graduates who embody all the best qualities we hope to engender in our students so that when they go on to their careers, they take with them the values we hold so dear.”

Spending time on campus after several years prompted Tom and Nancy to reminisce about their student days. As they reflected upon their life journey and thought about the people who helped launch their careers, Nancy and Tom said they continued to be filled with gratitude.

“It all started here,” Tom said, as he and Nancy held hands walking toward the new building that bears the name of one of their cherished Oswego mentors. He and Nancy smiled at one another, hurried to go inside for the landmark celebration. “It all started right here.”

Frederick Walker ’64 and Edward Currier ’68, retired science teachers, visited campus Sept. 30 for open house at Rice Creek Field Station and the Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation.

Although they didn’t know each other as students, they have been best friends since 1971, when Walker completed a six-year stint in the U.S. Air Force and joined Currier at Wayne Central Middle School, later moving to high school. They formed an immediate bond, based on their Oswego experiences and respect for Oswego professors.

“We had wonderful, collegial relationships with the science faculty,” Currier says. Walker adds, “They believed in students as individuals, and they encouraged us to build on our strengths.”

For Currier, “strength” meant biology and environment. “The field station at Rice Creek had just been built, and I was there for ecology and field biology courses, doing the initial stream study with Dr. Ronald Engel and observing the mating ritual of the woodcock with Dr. Carlita Georgia,” he says.

He remembers Dr. Richard S. Shineman as a professor who had a true calling. “He just loved chemistry,” says Currier, “and he was so helpful to me — to all students.”

Walker was lab assistant to John Weeks, emeritus biology professor, and worked in the animal lab, a post that Currier later filled. “I spent so many hours at the lab,” Walker says, “I’d usually be late to dinner.” He ate at a boarding house for $10 a week. After leaving the USAF and before he began to teach, Walker bought a piece of woodland, where he and his wife, Carol Gould Walker ’65, built a camp they still enjoy. (A daughter, Christie Walker Sweder ’92, is also an Oswego graduate.)

Both teachers adopted their education philosophies from Oswego professors, and both have passed it along to student teachers and, as mentors after retirement, to new faculty. Currier teaches one course a year at St. John Fisher and serves as a consultant, helping implement science curricula in elementary schools.

Open house gave these alumni a chance to reminisce and to project. “I’m so proud to have been part of the history of this college,” Currier says. “Looks as if Oswego is headed toward a great future.”

Barbara Garii, associate dean of SUNY Oswego’s School of Education, called it a “win-win situation. Both colleges are part of the SUNY system and both are excellent schools.”

Garii said discussions started when Oswego faculty recognized that SUNY ESF has a pool of undergraduates suited to participate in the Oswego Residency Initiative for Teacher Excellence program, a program that will immerse teacher trainees in nine high-need school districts in Oswego County, Syracuse and New York City. SUNY Oswego is in the midst of the pilot program, which is funded by a $1.73 million Race to the Top grant through the state Education Department.

“While the impetus was the collaboration with O-RITE, it now extends to existing adolescence education biology and chemistry and the childhood education science concentration MST programs in curriculum and instruction,” Garii said.

A shrewd investment in his industrial arts education has paid hefty dividends in his manufacturing career.

Just to be clear: George Wurtz III ’78, president and CEO of Soundview Paper Co. LLC, fully intended to teach industrial arts after graduating from Oswego. Hardwired with his grandfather’s love of woodworking and machinery, Wurtz had graduated from a premier high-school industrial arts program. He had turned down offers to play football for Penn State and Army in order to enroll at Oswego. He had worked grueling summer construction jobs to pay his tuition in cash.

In 1978, industrial arts education degree in hand, Wurtz was ready to roll. He was weighing job offers from two school districts when Miller Brewing in Fulton offered him an inventory control job at twice the salary. Wurtz made a decisive course correction and followed the money—and a hunch that manufacturing might be an even better fit.

A Home Run?

While student teaching in Valley Stream, Wurtz sensed a red flag. His trailblazing lesson plan required students to design a product, then form a company to build and sell it. “The students loved it. They asked for extra lab time,” Wurtz remembers. “It looked like a home run.”

The school’s administrators made a different call: “You’re not a business teacher,” they scolded Wurtz. “You’re an industrial arts teacher.”

Fortunately, the manufacturing industry embraced such ingenuity. Wurtz shakes his head when he remembers his first meeting with Miller Brewing. “The interview date changed at the last minute. I had planned to get a haircut and wear a suit. Instead I had to go straight from the Industrial Arts lab, looking like Jeremiah Johnson with my long hair and overalls.”

“This was after the Vietnam War, and there was a shortage of engineers,” explains Wurtz.

“Industry was recruiting from ‘tech programs,’ and Oswego had one of the best in the country.

“An industrial arts degree looked a lot like a degree in mechanical engineering, with hands-on math, chemistry and physics labs,” he reports. “A number of my classmates went into industry instead of the classroom.”

The Scenic Route

Thirty-five years—and 17 address changes—later, it’s tough to imagine the larger-than-life Wurtz on any other trajectory. He spent almost a decade with Phillip Morris, the parent company of Miller Brewing. “It was like earning a Ph.D. in executive management,” he says. “I worked under industry icons. My ears were as big as Dumbo’s, taking it all in.”

In 1987, Wurtz was recruited into towel and tissue manufacturing, a subset of forest products, the nation’s third largest industry. He spent the next 15 years helping to build Fort James, home to such household brands as Brawny and Dixie Cups. When Georgia Pacific bought Fort James for $7.5 billion, Wurtz helped guide the merger then joined the new company in Atlanta, Ga.

Within a few years, Wurtz was second in command at Georgia Pacific. As executive vice president of pulp and paper, he was responsible for seven companies, 10,000 employees, and $6 billion in annual sales.

“I learned a lot working at the decision-making level of giant companies,” he says. “I discovered I loved mergers and acquisitions. But I always dreamed of walking away and creating smaller, leaner, more nimble companies, managed by hands-on investors who were also seasoned practitioners.”

Object Lesson

The opportunity to lead his dream company came last year, when Wurtz, with equity investment firm Atlas Holdings, purchased Marcal Paper Co., a storied New Jersey towel and tissue company on the brink of closure.

In 2006, Wurtz—by then an industry icon—stepped away from corporate life when Koch Industries acquired Georgia Pacific. After decades in the fast lane, he hoped to spend more time with his wife, Nancy. “‘Miss Nancy,’ as they say in Atlanta, is my true love,” Wurtz says, “along with my daughter, Jacqueline, who has three wonderful boys under 4, and my son, George IV, who carries on the towel-and-tissue tradition.”

Wurtz also looked forward to stretches of time in his woodworking shop and aboard his 60-foot fishing boat. “My ideal day involves hooking a 1,000-pound tuna,” he explains. “But when that didn’t happen every day, I grew restless.”

High-energy Wurtz went back to work as CEO of WinCup in Stone Mountain, Ga., a massive but troubled supplier of foam cups, straws and other food service disposables. “I’d never
been associated with a company in bankruptcy,” he reports, “and I discovered I love fixing broken stuff.”

The Lure of Marcal

When Wurtz and Atlas Holdings purchased Marcal in 2012, the floundering company had nearly lost sight of its proud history. Marcal was founded in 1928 by a resourceful Sicilian immigrant, Nicolas Marcalus, whose 17 patents include the jagged metal edge used to cut waxed paper and the first automatic toilet tissue winder.

Marcal, which pioneered the use of recycled paper to make towels and tissue, flourished for 70 years. In 2001, the family-run business borrowed $125 million for a new paper machine—a wise investment, it seemed, until 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina knocked the wind out of the economy. A few years later, the bank called in the Marcal loan.

In 2007, on the brink of bankruptcy, the family sold to venture capitalists, who planned to take the regional company national. “Going national wasn’t the answer,” according to Wurtz. “Thirty-eight percent of the domestic towel and tissue market lies within 500 miles of the Marcal plant.”

“The company had a lot of pride but lost its way,” Wurtz believes. “By the time we took over, its workforce was emotionally decimated.

“We had to let 100 people go, but we saved 500 jobs,” he reports. “Those workers are this company’s greatest asset. Many are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The typical employee has been here for 18 years and most likely has a father, brother or sister who works here.”

First-Name Basis

The outgoing, straight-shooting Wurtz now spends much of his time mingling with Marcal employees. On his daily walkabouts, he covers an average of 3.5 miles and greets almost every employee by name. “These workers have done nothing but work hard for Marcal, even as many lost their pensions,” says Wurtz. “I love ’em to death.”

From the Nest

Students in the Department of Technology learn about the career path of George Wurtz III ’78, center, who spoke with them in the new Manufacturing Systems Laboratory this spring.

Part of this allegiance dates back to Wurtz’s down-to-earth Long Island childhood. He and four siblings (including Kevin ’79 and Thomas ’92) were instilled with a strong work ethic. Each child was allowed to play one sport and expected to hold a job during its off-seasons. (Wurtz worked on a commercial fishing boat).

“My father was a union worker for the public utility company,” Wurtz says. “He’s always reminded me that ‘Joe Hourly’ will make or break you. Success doesn’t happen in the executive suite.

“Football also taught me that you’re only as good as the guys behind you,” he adds. “From my corporate years, I learned that, if you’re not making it or selling it, you are overhead.”

On a recent tour of the one-square-mile Marcal campus, Wurtz was walking the talk. At one point, the strolling CEO and a recycling truck approached the same intersection. Wurtz gave the driver a friendly salute. The driver stopped, smiled, and gestured for his boss to go ahead.

“No, you go ahead,” Wurtz chuckled. “I’m paying you.”

On a Roll

Since Soundview took charge, the Marcal plant has operated three shifts a day, seven days a week. Volume has increased by 22 percent. Equity investors have earned 44 percent dividends. Employees recently received their first gain-sharing checks. In December, Soundview purchased a second paper plant, Pultney Paper in Vermont.

The Soundview company carries no debt. Fifty percent of profits are invested in operations. “We pay it forward,” Wurtz explains. “When we buy a stressed company, our goal is not to buy, fix, and sell. Our goal is to buy, get it going, and keep it going.

“We came into Marcal making huge promises,” Wurtz reflects. “Now we’re delivering on these promises—and regaining a lot of trust.

“Saving jobs is at the heart of our work,” he says. “For decades, our country’s manufacturing base and its middle class have been eroding. But the American spirit is still alive. You see it when we pull together after events like 9-11, Hurricane Sandy, and the Boston Marathon bombing.
“Americans are very productive people,” says Wurtz. “I believe we have a strong shot at reviving manufacturing.”

A strong shot indeed, if that revival is fueled by towel-and-tissue titan George Wurtz ’78, with his boots-on-the-ground leadership style, wide-angle view, and ever-versatile Oswego degree in industrial arts education.

Long-Range Lesson Plan:

Unbeknownst to George Wurtz III ’78, Oswego was preparing him to embrace the unexpected.

George Wurtz never used his Oswego degree in the classroom, but it’s been a priceless asset in his corporate career. “Industrial arts is the perfect training ground for manufacturing,” he says. “Everything I learned in industrial arts education applies to running a company. They taught us to be good managers without calling it management.

“We learned to create lesson plans, which are essentially business plans. We learned to establish objectives, to control costs, and to measure progress. We learned that good leadership is about good teaching—emphasizing what’s going well and teaching what could be even better.”

Charles Edic ’14, a technology management major, shows a prototype of his class project, a steady-grip device for a camera, to George Wurtz ’78 during Wurtz’s recent visit to campus.

To acknowledge Oswego, George serves on its Engineering Advisory Board, shares executive suite insights on sharpening Oswego’s competitive edge and has established an Engineering Excellence Fund. And as a featured guest in the Alumni-in-Residence Program, he likes to underscore the enduring importance of Oswego relationships. “In college, you grow socially as well as academically. My best friends are still my college friends,” he reports.

Those college friendships may evolve into professional relationships.

Wurtz and Ron Schulman ’77, who crossed paths early in their manufacturing careers, recently reconnected through LinkedIn. “One thing led to another,” says Wurtz, “and Ron is now our comptroller at Soundview.”

Speaking of the unexpected: rugby represents another surprise turn in Wurtz’s life. In 1974, the 6-foot-3-inch middle linebacker arrived at Oswego ready to play football, only to learn the program had been cut. The skeptical freshman, who had been recruited by Penn State and Army, reluctantly joined Oswego’s rugby team. Almost 40 years later, Wurtz—a master of corporate mergers —still considers this his favorite.

“The rugby players taught us how to laugh, and we taught them how to tackle. After the game, you sing songs and drink beer with your opponents,” he says. “My rugby friends remain my closest friends. Many still play every summer in the CanAm Rugby Tournament.”

When Kevin Gilman ’74, the coach/catalyst of this spirited group, passed away in 2009, the rugby bond grew even stronger. Wurtz spearheaded the establishment of an endowed memorial scholarship and rugby fund to honor his friend.

“There is such cool camaraderie in rugby: part fraternity, part family,” says Wurtz. “I’ve learned it’s the greatest game ever played.”

T. Scott King ’74 and Deborah Coppola King ’75 of Delray Beach, Florida, are staunch supporters of SUNY Oswego. They recently gave a gift of $25,000 to the Possibility Scholarship program, with another $25,000 matched from Sun Capital Partners Inc., of which Scott King is Senior Managing Director.

The Possibility Scholarship program provides tuition assistance to students pursuing degrees in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Students must qualify academically and demonstrate financial need.

This is the Kings’ second contribution to the Possibility Scholarship program, and Scott says they support it because, “It’s a great program. It’s as simple as that. It’s given us an opportunity to help somebody that would otherwise struggle financially to go to college.”

Students awarded this scholarship are also given the chance to participate in the Global Laboratory program. This is an international research opportunity that is completed in the summer following each student’s sophomore year. This year, students have been placed in India, France, Brazil, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Taiwan.

The Kings’ generous gift will have a significant and positive impact on this program. “Both my wife and I graduated from Oswego,” Scott adds, “and we love to give back.”

LAST YEAR’S SCIENCE TODAY LECTURE series on women in the science, technology, engineering and math professions, organized by Webe Kadima of Oswego’s chemistry faculty, has won recognition from Sigma Xi, the scientific research society.

Kadima was vice president of the college’s Sigma Xi chapter last year. She was also principal investigator for a recent study, funded by the National Science Foundation, of the status of women faculty in the STEM disciplines at Oswego.

The spring 2012 lecture series earned a Sigma Xi Chapter Program Award for distinguished performance. Oswego’s chapter was one of seven chapters receiving the award nationally.

ABOVE, ALEX PARSONS ’15, second from right, a technology education major, works with Oswego Middle School eighth-graders Nov. 30 on an activity requiring coordination and teamwork.

At right, he is joined by technology education major Rachel Edic ’16, second from left. The exercise was part of a campus visit of Mentor-Scholar Program participants and their families — more than 150 in all — featuring interactive presentations and dinner. Scott Ball ’09, M ’11, assistant coordinator of the Mentor-Scholar Program, said members of the Oswego Technology Educators Association as well as Penfield librarians organized the presentations. The program partners SUNY Oswego undergraduates with Oswego Middle School students in an effort to create enthusiasm for academics and an increase in high school graduation rates.

SUNY Oswego has partnered with the National Action Council on Minorities in Engineering to award scholarships starting this fall to

The Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation, now under construction, will be the academic home for new students supported by scholarships awarded under a partnership between SUNY Oswego and the National Action Council on Minorities in Engineering.

increase enrollment in engineering fields for students from underrepresented groups.

As part of multiple efforts to boost interest among talented minority students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, Oswego will team with NACME to provide up to 10 awards this fall at the level of Presidential Scholarships—$4,700 a year for up to four years—to students interested in engineering from high schools and academies that take part in NACME’s pilot STEM Integration Model.

President Deborah F. Stanley and NACME President Irving Pressley MacPhail signed an agrement last summer to formalize the college’s participation in NACME’s STEM Integration Model.

Oswego is the only four-year SUNY institution taking part in a series of national pilots that, in the New York/New Jersey region, includes Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University and at least five others.

“We are very hopeful that we are going to attract a pool of highly talented, creative and diverse applicants to the STEM fields as a result of our new affiliation with NACME,” Dan Griffin ’92, M ’00, interim director of admissions at SUNY Oswego, said.

While NACME is known as the nation’s largest private source of scholarships for underrepresented minority men and women in engineering, the new NACME pilot program invites select high schools, colleges and universities, along with corporations, to form a network committed to increasing the number of minority engineers in each region of the country.

Career opportunities

NACME’s STEM Integration Model aims to build a continuum of minority interest in engineering fields starting in middle school and progressing through high school, college and graduate school to jobs in such partner companies as AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, IBM and Merck.

SUNY Oswego is building a comprehensive infrastructure of opportunities for undergraduates in STEM fields, including scholarships, grants and offerings in software engineering and, starting this fall, in electrical and computer engineering inside the $118 million Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation.

NACME is interested in placing students in engineering careers and in particular providing them with an international experience, which is often difficult to achieve in engineering curricula.

MacPhail was very interested in SUNY Oswego’s Global Laboratory as a program to give more NACME engineering students across the country international experiences, principally in the petrochemical industry. Oswego has a strong connection in Brazil, at a lab that works on petro-geological modeling. Benjamin Valentino ’13, a student in a summer Global Lab­or­atory program, worked in the lab.

Since then, admissions counselor Christie Torruella Smith ’08 has visited most of the seven high schools and academies in this region’s NACME pilot program: Albany High School, Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy, City Polytechnic High School, Construction Trades Engineering and Architecture High School, John E. Dwyer Technology Academy, Manhattan Bridges High School and Rochester STEM High School. The partnership includes at least four community colleges in the region as well.

“With the new science facility, the Possibility Scholarships, the new major in electrical and computer engineering and another in software engineering— it’s the perfect time to reach out to those schools,” Smith said. SUNY Oswego’s Possibility Scholarship program puts STEM programs within reach of socioeconomically challenged students.

SUNY Oswego offers several other opportunities for high school students to engage with the college and its science faculty, from the Summer Science Immersion Program to the GENIUS Olympiad global environmental competition.